In late 2008, a sales leader gave me a paperback book at my first "real job" with Dell. Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz wrote the book in an almost painfully simple fashion that is deeply steeped in metaphors. And despite an underwhelming 74 pages long, it managed to change forever how I approached the professional world.
To this day, "Go for No!: Yes Is the Destination, No Is How You Get There" remains a favored book to recommend to anyone who finds themselves in a role that requires you to face regular rejection. Likewise, it is my go-to book for anyone taking the path of an entrepreneur. After all, founders are a company's first salesperson.
The book takes you on a few simple nonfiction journeys that help you identify and understand a universal truth "failure is often the only option because you can't always win." Therefore, you have to not only be open to failing; you have to actively seek the opportunity to fail and then constantly work towards it.
The authors give some compelling numbers to back up their perspectives, which work out in my experience as a sales leader. "100% of people have the ability to fail. .. yet most won't try to. Most salespeople never move past this stage. Less than 20% of salespeople have the willingness to fail." To these individuals, the word no is a taxing burden of the job and not seen as a sign of positive progression.
Let's take this back to being a founder. Did that VC firm say no? Good. It's part of the expedition. It happens, and you're resilient. Did you get the partnership you wanted? No. Did the person you asked for a meeting reply? No. Reread that last sentence. "Did the person you asked for a meeting reply?" The answer is no, but it isn't the proper no because they didn't deliver it. Instead, they ignored you. That is now commonplace … and it's infuriating.
I've seen the aversion to saying no grow in popularity over the last few years. Getting to a no should be pursued with the same vigor as a yes since each no gets you closer to a yes. When people ignore you, they are prolonging the sacred process of progress. This is where consistent persistence comes into play. And it is proving to be an absolute requirement for success in today's new "aversion-first" world.
I could pontificate on the societal causes for this short attention span and seemingly shameless ability to ignore people entirely and repeatedly in professional settings. I could point to founders creating AI bots that aimlessly outreach via LinkedIn messages as a foreboding, self-defeating fable. Perhaps social media is training us to be comfortable dredging on with blinders on? But that's not my lane; my lane is getting to a hard no.
To win in this new reality, we must consistently be persistent. A request for a meeting with someone I know directly takes me, on average, five emails. Important context here — they know I will ask them for money at some point. If it's a cold outreach, I either get a reply on the first outreach, or it takes over 10 tries.
Outreach can be automated (no LinkedIn bots here). I often outsource follow-up emails through automated campaigns to needle my target into taking a meeting after my initial email. You're annoyed with me right now, aren't you? Too bad. You should have responded earlier. You would be surprised how often I have been thanked for being persistent when they finally acknowledge my request. However, a meeting is one thing; getting to no on the proposal is my new pain. Often, even when they know the answer is no, the new answer is either nothing or some low-effort variation of "not yet."
If you're ever in this situation, you may begin to feel like a burden or nuisance on your fourth and fifth follow-ups. Well, you aren't even halfway through your follow-up now, my friend. Your new goal should be as many phone calls and emails as it takes to get that firm no. Backing off isn't an option, and the role of being consistently persistent is an important one. We need to hold those who take our time accountable for delivering the no.
You may be thinking this might all sound a bit aggressive, but you didn't get yourself into the business of complacency, did you? After all, being complacent requires success, and if you didn't successfully get a yes or a no, you are being outright ignored.
I've read many sales-oriented books and offer you an oversimplified moral of them all. From the clever viewpoints of Zig Ziglar to the long and almost biblical stories by Dale Carnegie, you could sum all of the critical points into two primary skill sets.
- Consistent persistence.
- Professionalism.
And since you can't control others' professionalism, it's up to you to constantly engage in a persistent mindset until you get your yes. Or no.
Contact Brett Maternowski at Brett@SynapseFL.com and www.BrettFL.com.
